Fear Gets Results. Until It Doesn't.
Summary: Fear can be a surprisingly effective management tool, which is precisely why some leaders continue to rely on it. The trouble is that what delivers results in the short term can undermine performance over time. Understanding the difference between compliance and commitment matters because modern organisations need much more than people who simply do as they are told.
A few weeks ago, I was listening to the radio when I heard a quote, attributed to the Belgian surrealist René Magritte: "It is much easier to terrorise than to charm."
The more I thought about it, the more it reminded me of a boss I worked for many years ago, and of a leadership lesson that I suspect many of us learn at some point in our careers.
He was intelligent, ambitious and capable. And he also believed in what could politely be described as 'management by fear'.
His thinking was straightforward: If people knew they would be challenged, scrutinised and held relentlessly accountable, they would work harder and make fewer mistakes. A little nervousness wasn't an unfortunate side effect. It was part of the strategy. In his mind, a team that felt comfortable was at risk of becoming complacent.
To be fair, there was evidence to support his thinking.
People arrived at meetings exceptionally well prepared. Deadlines were usually met and standards appeared high. From the outside, it looked remarkably effective.
The problem was that those visible outcomes hid a series of much less visible costs.
Before each meeting, we all huddled and compared notes. Had priorities changed? What mood was he in today? Was this the right time to raise a concern, or would it create more problems than it solved?
Looking back, what strikes me isn't how hard we all worked, but how much time and energy we spent trying to read and manage him.
And slowly, we stopped saying things.
Ideas that weren't fully formed stayed in our notebooks. Concerns were raised later than they should have been. We became very skilled at avoiding his cross hairs. Eventually, people started walking away, taking knowledge and experience with them.
I suspect many of you will recognise some version of this story.
Which raises an obvious question: if management by fear carries such obvious drawbacks, why does it remain so common?
The answer, I guess, is that at least for a while, it works.
Pressure produces an immediate response. A sharply worded email can achieve remarkable things. People work faster. They pay greater attention to detail. On the surface, fear can look surprisingly similar to engagement.
But that is what makes it so dangerous. The problem isn't that fear reduces effort. Quite often it increases it. The problem is that it changes where people's attention goes. Instead of focusing on solving problems or improving outcomes, they become preoccupied with avoiding criticism and staying out of trouble.
And this won’t show up immediately in your next set of quarterly results.
In fact, teams led through fear can look highly productive for quite some time. The costs only become visible later, when innovation slows, problems emerge that should have been spotted earlier, or experienced people decide they would rather work somewhere else.
Organisations don't need people who simply follow instructions. They need people who think independently, spot risks early, challenge assumptions and tell them things they may not want to hear.
Questions worth reflecting on
If you lead people, ask yourself:
When was the last time somebody openly disagreed with me in a meeting?
How quickly do people bring me bad news?
Do I hear unfinished ideas, or only polished solutions?
Are people asking for permission when they already have enough information to decide?
Are people more focused on doing their best work, or on staying out of trouble?
Fear can produce effort remarkably quickly. Whether it also produces commitment is a very different question.
Perhaps this is the real test of leadership: Are people bringing you their best thinking, or just their safest thinking?
September 2026
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